Minutes: Economic Development: May 20, 2008

Economic Development Committee

Regular Meeting
Tuesday, May 20, 2008, 5:30 pm
City Hall, 31 South Madison Street, Evansville, Wisconsin

MINUTES

I. Roll Call. Present: Tony Wyse, Gene Bass, Dave Olsen, Rebecca DeMarb, Roger Berg, Janis Ringhand, and Matthias James. Absent: James Otterstein. Also present: Mayor Sandy Decker, City Administrator Dan Wietecha, Chamber of Commerce Director Bridgit Larsen, consultant Judy Whalen, Redevelopment Authority Chair John Decker, and Dick Woulfe.

II. Approval of Agenda. Ringhand made a motion, seconded by Olsen, to approve the agenda with the addition of election of officers. Motion approved unanimously.

III. Minutes of April 17, 2008, Meeting. Wyse made a motion, seconded by James, to waive the reading of the minutes and approve as presented. Motion approved unanimously.

IV. Citizen Appearances. None.

V. Officers. Ringhand nominated Tony Wyse for Chair, seconded by Olsen. Ringhand made a motion to close nominations, seconded by James. Motion approved unanimously. Wyse elected unanimously. As the other alderperson on the committee, Ringhand became Vice Chair by default. For the time being, the Secretary’s duties will rotate among all the members.

VI. Economic Development Strategy. Wietecha distributed copies of the task force recommendations and comments submitted by Committee members prior to tonight’s meeting.

a. Workforce Development. The task force recommendations mostly utilize state or local programs already in place; the Committee said they want a better understanding of the individual programs. Michael Pierick and Jim Brooks will be invited from the task force to the June meeting to discuss the recommendations in more detail with the Committee and to help set priorities among the recommendations.

b. Governmental Relations. The task force recommendations all center on the creation of an Economic Development Alliance. The Committee viewed this as a new umbrella entity to coordinate the work of existing organizations. The Committee said the first step should be to explore the idea of creating such an entity before worrying about staff, office space, or website. Contacts from Fond du Lac and Green Counties will be invited to the June meeting to discuss creating an Economic Development Corporation or similar entity. The Chamber of Commerce Board has also asked to attend the meeting.

c. Downtown Revitalization. The task force recommendations include holding an open house for entrepreneurs, mentoring a start-up business, and then using the lessons from that business as a template for other businesses. The Committee noted that this overlaps with the recommendations of the Entrepreneurial Environment task force.

d. Entrepreneurial Environment & Networking. The task force recommendations include creation of an inventors and entrepreneurs club.

e. Marketing. The Committee did not discuss the Marketing recommendations.

VII. Chamber of Commerce Report. There was no report.

VIII. City Administrator Report. There was no report.

IX. Adjournment. The Committee agreed to continue reviewing the task force recommendations at a special meeting on Tuesday, June 3, at 5:30. Dick Woulfe presented the Committee with DVD copies of Terry Whipple’s “Catch the Culture” keynote speech from the Summit and the presentations of the task force recommendations. Berg made a motion, seconded by Ringhand to adjourn the meeting. Motion approved unanimously.